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Rutgers athletics director Tim Pernetti released a missive to Scarlet Knights fans today, and it’s an informative account of the overall state of his athletics department:

Dear Scarlet Knight Fans,

The first half of the academic year is nearing a close and it has been a busy and productive semester in the classroom and on the fields of play for our Scarlet Knights. Our student-athletes, coaches, support staff and administration continue to do an outstanding job managing their academic, athletic and community responsibilities with a constant focus on our mission of earning degrees, becoming leaders, and winning championships.

As for Tim Pernetti, the Rutgers athletics director earns an annual base salary of $410,000 and receives another $4,000 in non-university compensation. The 40-year old Oakland, Bergen County, resident receives $50,000 in bonus compensation and an annual automobile stipend of $12,000. According to New Jersey Press Media’s Data Universe, Pernetti earned $420,729.48 in gross state-employee income last year.

Pernetti’s total income, including bonus pay, ranks last among the six permanent ADs of the Big East football-playing schools. Only Connecticut’s Paul Pendergast and Cincinnati’s Bob Arkeilpane earn less than Pernetti, but both are interim ADs at their respective programs.

According to the USA TODAY’s methodology, Cincinnati’s previous AD, Mike Thomas, who resigned Aug. 10 to take the same position at Illinois, earned $421,000 in total compensation and a $497,500 bonus maximum, while Connecticut’s prior AD, Jeff Hathaway, who resigned Sept. 15, earned $511,599 in total compensation and a $55,833 bonus maximum. That means Pernetti’s $476,000 total package was less than all eight ADs at the Big East’s football-playing schools in 2010.

When he was hired on Feb. 26, 2009, Pernetti received a five-year deal that runs through the 2013-14 school year. During his introductory press conference, Pernetti said he took a pay cut of approximately 20 percent in leaving his position as executive vice president at CBS College Sports to return to his alma mater.

Coming this weekend in NJ Press Media newspapers, I’ll have an in-depth story on the Rutgers men’s lacrosse program and why many in the college lacrosse community consider it a plum job. But here are a few quick tidbits from Rutgers athletics director Tim Pernetti on how the coaching search is progressing after Jim Stagnitta resigned earlier this week:

— Asked if there’s timetable on when he’d like to hire a new coach, Pernetti responded, “”Immediately.” The Rutgers AD — who has already hired new coaches in men’s soccer, men’s basketball, gymnastics, men’s golf, women’s volleyball — said he has already received significant interest in the position in the three days since the job opened and added “”we’re pretty deep into the process.”

“”My philosophy in this, as with every coaching search, is want to
move swiftly but we don’t want to rush,” Pernetti said during a phone interview this afternoon. “”We’re very deep into it. I’ve been spending a lot of time on the phone the past couple of days. While I can’t share any details of candidates on my list, I will say that I’m very encouraged by the level of interest in the position.”

— Pernetti’s M.O. in these searches is to keep the list of people he’s speaking with or interviewing quiet, but he did offer some criteria for the next men’s lacrosse coach:

Ryan Hart was watching the NFL Draft on Friday night when he decided to script offensive plays for Saturday’s Believe Bowl.

Hart, who served as captain for one of the two alumni squads, threw out the playbook two plays into the flag-football game.

“”I scripted all these plays — redzone plays, trick plays — and I come to find out, after two plays, there was no way this was going to work,” Hart said, laughing. “”Everyone’s running around crazy so we just said, ‘Everybody just have some fun.’ ”

In the end, thanks to an MVP performance from former wideout Shawn Tucker (who organized the event that raised awareness for the Eric LeGrand Believe Fund and supported Rutgers Spinal Cord Research), it was Team Hart that prevailed, 26-24, over the team captained by Mike Teel.

The two most accomplished quarterbacks in Rutgers football history, Hart and Teel each shined in what turned out to be an entertaining appetizer for the Scarlet-White scrimmage.

Trailing 26-24 in the final minute, Team Teel took over at its 39-yard line and nearly rallied for the win. But Teel’s game-winning touchdown pass to former tight end Tim Pernetti (yes, that Tim Pernetti) was negated when the officials cited Teel for stepping over the line as he unleashed the ball with no time remaining.

“”You know the ironic thing is, I’m paying the refs and it still ended up being negated,” Rutgers’ athletics director quipped. “”It’s been since 1994 that I’ve been done playing, but you never want to close the door (on an NFL career).”

Turning serious, Pernetti said the alumni game was “”a lot of fun” and it served a good purpose.

“”From the start, we wanted to create awareness immediately and never stop putting the pedal down on raising support for Eric,” Pernetti said. “”It’s been a long time since the injury, but we never want Eric to leave the spotlight. It’s our responsibility, with everything Eric did for Rutgers, to take care of him. I think this event is just another in a long line of great fundraisers for him and his family. It was a great day.”

The final Big Ten match and a weekend to go over .500 The last weekend of the regular season....and Rutgers is sub-.500. Let me catch my breath. It’s been a rough season: the high of putting Nick Suriano on the mat coupled with the low of not having Anthony Ashnault. Injuries and a lack of […]